2018 Symposium

Ray Schinazi, Ph.D., DSc

Frances Winship Walters Professor, Center for AIDS Research, Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine

Raymond F. Schinazi is the Frances Winship Walters Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University and Co-Director of the HIV Cure Scientific Working Group for the NIH-sponsored Emory University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). He has authored over 550 peer-reviewed papers and 7 books and holds over 100 issued U.S. patents, which have resulted in 18 New Drug Applications (NDA). A world leader in nucleoside chemistry, Ray is best known for his pioneering work on HIV, HBV and HCV drugs d4T (stavudine), 3TC (lamivudine), FTC (emtricitabine), LdT (telbivudine), and sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), which are all approved by the US FDA. More than 94% of HIV-infected individuals in the U.S. on combination therapy take at least one of the drugs he invented.

Ray served on the Presidential Commission on AIDS. Ray is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2015 William S. Middleton Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 2016 Institute of Human Virology’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service, the 2016 Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2017 Paris Hepatology Conference State of the Art Award, and the 2017 Excellence Prize from Journées Québécoises, McGill University. Most recently he was appointed as a Senior Advisor for the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV) and as an Affiliated Professor of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France.

Ray currently serves as a governing trustee for the Foundation for AIDS research (amfAR). He also serves on the board of directors of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) as well as the Global Virus Network (GVN) where he is a member of GVN’s Executive Committee. Ray is internationally recognized as one of the most influential persons in the life science sector.